Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) places on the record that:

(a) under the previous Government, at the time of the last election just 2 per cent of premises across Australia could access the National Broadband Network (NBN); and

(b) since the election the NBN rollout has ramped up significantly and today around one in ten premises can access the NBN and under the NBN’s new Corporate Plan, by June 2018, three in four premises will have access to the NBN;

(2)   notes that:

(a) the NBN’s 2016-2018 Corporate Plan reveals that a full fibre to the premises (FTTP) NBN could not be completed until 2026 at the earliest and could be as late as 2028—six to eight years later than the current Government’s plan; and

(b) the NBN 2016-2018 Corporate Plan reveals that a full FTTP NBN would cost between $20 and $30 billion dollars more than the current Government’s plan; and

(3) recognises that it is essential to deliver fast broadband to Australians sooner—not force Australians with no or poor broadband to wait more than a decade for the NBN

Across Australia, and particularly in my electorate of Roberson on the New South Wales Central Coast, the NBN rollout is speeding up and more families and businesses are connecting to superfast broadband. In fact, since the last election, the NBN rollout has ramped up significantly. Until that point, despite all the fanfare and the $6 billion of taxpayers' money spent under the former Labor government—and despite the great big red button that was pushed in my electorate in the lead-up to the September 2013 election—just two per cent of premises across Australia could access the NBN at the time of the election, including just over 200 premises connected and using a service in my electorate of Robertson.

In contrast, today in Robertson we have a massive 67,300 premises either ready for service, under construction or on the rollout plan up until December next year. That includes 12,100 homes and businesses that are ready for service and another 55,200 that can expect it to be connected in coming months. It is an example of what is happening right across Australia today. Areas that are using superfast broadband include suburbs in my electorate such as Gosford, North Gosford, West Gosford, Point Frederick, East Gosford, parts of Springfield and some premises in Narara. In coming months we are expecting more than 33,000 more premises to be added in another 27 suburbs. These include part or all of Point Clare, Koolewong, Tascott, Bensville, Blackwall, Booker Bay, Daleys Point, Davistown, Empire Bay, Ettalong Beach, Green Point, Hardys Bay, Horsefield Bay, Kilcare, Kilcare Heights, parts of Kincumber, Patonga, Pearl Beach, Phegans Bay, Pretty Beach, Saratoga, St Huberts Island, Umina Beach, Wagstaffe, Woy Woy, Woy Woy Bay and Yattalunga—all this in just two years. Construction will also start before the end of the year in another 13,300 homes and businesses and another eight suburbs on top of this, while another 8,600 premises are on the rollout plan for construction to start in the first half of next year.

With the NBN rollout speeding up across the Central Coast, I am holding a series of listening posts in my electorate, right across the community. We started them last month. It is a fantastic thing to hear from people about their expectations, about their desires for superfast broadband. We have held them at the Jasmine Greens Park Kiosk at Umina Beach and we also spoke to residents of Hardys Bay, Kilcare and Wagstaffe at the Hardys Bay Club. I am really looking forward to returning home from parliament this week to listen to residents of Copacabana, where construction is well underway, this Friday at the Alligai Bay Cafe between 2 pm and 4 pm. We are also off to Macmasters Beach. On 24 September we will be at Loo Loo's Coffee Shack between 10 am and midday. We are holding a listening post at Gosford on Saturday, 3 October from 11 am till 1 pm in the wonderful new-look Imperial Centre and will also be at the Davistown RSL on 6 October from 11 am till 1 pm.

We are doing these events, not just in these locations but in many locations around the electorate, because we hear so many stories about how people want to connect to faster internet. For example, Vince from Pearl Beach was telling me that the internet is so slow in his community at the moment that he brings his wireless mobile device home after a long day at work to be able to access the internet. I am pleased to say that work started in Pearl Beach in December last year and residents of Pearl Beach should be able to access this service of the NBN early next year. I am really looking forward to heading out to the Pearl Beach Community Hall next month to hear more stories.

I will give an example of just how a faster rollout can benefit my community and communities across Australia. NIB have decided to locate a new service centre right in the heart of the CBD in Gosford, bringing 100 new jobs. Fast broadband was one of the key reasons they indicated they moved to Gosford and not to another region. So with 600 new jobs also coming into Gosford in a purpose-built Commonwealth agency—a key election commitment of this coalition government to the Central Coast—we will see even more momentum in a city connected with 21st century technology.

This fast broadband rollout across Australia is thanks to our new mixed technology rollout strategy. A full fibre-to-the-premise NBN would cost between $20 billion and $30 billion more than the current government's plan and could not be completed until 2026 at the earliest and could even be as late as 2028—that is, 13 years away. There is evidence of this slow progress but I am very pleased to commend our superfast broadband rollout to the House.

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